[Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

[Machahiko]

If I may ask - how is the Omnishow/Sneakattack matchup for you guys? To me it has always been absolutely miserable uphill battle which makes me want to do something stupid to my health. Game one is pretty much a cointoss, games two and three always end up in the third game, I try to either cast xantid swarm and they fow it backed up by turn 1 kill or they just open up with one leyline when I have 2(+) discard spells in my hand. I'm bringing this up because you're adding the Xantid Swarm in for making these matchups better. Would the third copy make the matchup that much easier that it really matters? Or should we instead decide to plan on beating the matchups we're already good against?

Sometimes I curse the fact that metagame in here is so diverse that building your sideboard is almost impossible if you don't happen to have a lot of insider information.

If anyone is interested, I'd be more than glad to read about how to select the last few cards to your sideboard related to the decks you're likely to run into. I don't find myself good enough to do this myself - even though I've been testing the Carpet of Flowers' and they've been amazing so far. Going through two flusterstorms and a spell pierce for the kill feels just unreal.

[Lemnear]

If I may ask - how is the Omnishow/Sneakattack matchup for you guys? To me it has always been absolutely miserable uphill battle which makes me want to do something stupid to my health. Game one is pretty much a cointoss, games two and three always end up in the third game, I try to either cast xantid swarm and they fow it backed up by turn 1 kill or they just open up with one leyline when I have 2(+) discard spells in my hand. I'm bringing this up because you're adding the Xantid Swarm in for making these matchups better. Would the third copy make the matchup that much easier that it really matters? Or should we instead decide to plan on beating the matchups we're already good against?

Sometimes I curse the fact that metagame in here is so diverse that building your sideboard is almost impossible if you don't happen to have a lot of insider information.

If anyone is interested, I'd be more than glad to read about how to select the last few cards to your sideboard related to the decks you're likely to run into. I don't find myself good enough to do this myself - even though I've been testing the Carpet of Flowers' and they've been amazing so far. Going through two flusterstorms and a spell pierce for the kill feels just unreal.

1) I have no clue why you leave in Discard against OmniTell with Leylines in games 2 & 3 ... board -3 Duress, -1 EtW, +2 CoV, + 2 Xantid

2) why should I waste Sideboard space for decks which are already easy prey instead of tackling the problematic ones?

3) How is Carpet of Flowers better than Xantid against 2 Flusterstorm + Spell Pierce? Only in situations in which those Flusterstorms are paired with creature removal. That's part of the reason why the 3rd Xantid is a topic.

[lemariont]

Since cutting Ill-Gotten Gains I've played in two full events and tested roughly 35 games against RUG. Not once did I want Ill-Gotten Gains, not to mention the last time I used 'Gains it could've been Past in Flames if I wasn't feeling lazy. It's simply just a safety net at this point.

I haven't had any issues with Tropical yet, I say yet, because your points are valid but I think the Tropical could be necessary if we decide to add a third Xantid Swarm. Sideboarding in three cards that want to be cast on the first turn without a Tropical to search for could be difficult.

I think playing a fetchland in the sideboard is very questionable.

Do you side in the xantids vs RUG???? Are you sure that they leave their lightnings in sb???

[Bryant Cook]

Do you side in the xantids vs RUG???? Are you sure that they leave their lightnings in sb???

I don't side in Xantids against decks with removal.

[Teluin]

Hey guys,

I've never played a Storm combo deck before, nor have I ever played a combo deck that was more complicated than Reanimator so please keep that in mind. I am interested in the deck however, and I plan on playing it once I get the rest of the cards together.
I know why Silence is played over Orim's Chant, as the targeting of a player can be key, but I was wondering how relevant 1 extra mana is in all of this. Is it often very close mana-wise, or could a 2cc spell in place of Silence be feasible if the effect were similar?

[Jay_Gatz]

The deck is designed to be as mana efficient as possible. Most of the time every mana counts.

[Lemnear]

Do you side in the xantids vs RUG???? Are you sure that they leave their lightnings in sb???

as Bryant mentioned, the Bugs are exclusive for decks which can't remove them but play a lot of counters. He's trying to tackle RUG via the SB Tropical. It was more of an Expansion from the first point: wondering why you kept Discard against Leyine in.

[Final Fortune]

Because I'm sure for some reason neither Past in Flames or Diminishing Returns could've gotten there, right? Safety net. Think about how often it's actually used in events, it's pretty damn rare.

I believe that tapping for cantripping mana is a lot more relevant than tapping for combo colored mana for the sideboarded land slot. I think the cantripping mana is more relevant than the ability to tap for a red or black. Otherwise, we would've added Badlands years ago.

Having a land to help cast difficult spells to cast is more important in my eyes than an additional shuffle effect that doesn't really improve the deck. It's a wasted space.

Do you not bother to SB in Ill Gotten Gains and Tendrils of Agony for Ad Nauseam and Empty the Warrens vs Goblins etc. or is the EV of that not really a consideration anymore? Furthermore if you're not SBing in Tendrils of Agony vs anything but maybe Miracles is Grapeshot worth it over Pyroclasm or Deathmark anymore if it doesn't double as a SB replacement for MDed Tednrils of Agony?

[Lemnear]

Do you not bother to SB in Ill Gotten Gains and Tendrils of Agony for Ad Nauseam and Empty the Warrens vs Goblins etc. or is the EV of that not really a consideration anymore? Furthermore if you're not SBing in Tendrils of Agony vs anything but maybe Miracles is Grapeshot worth it over Pyroclasm or Deathmark anymore if it doesn't double as a SB replacement for MDed Tednrils of Agony?

I dare to jump in here. GS saved my ass in many situations where I needed to clear the field or moved ToA to the MB in Exchange for EtW.

However, Elves, RW Goblins (w/ Thalia) and other hate-bear decks in the advent of DRS made my teammate trying Pyroclam in the board and I found myself in situations, where I BOARDED IN Grapeshot + test-Pyroclasm + CoV's against such decks.

Ergo: If your meta is infested with hatebears and/or Delver/Geist/DRS/Goblins/Elves/etc. Pyroclasm is a card to have in the back of your head, but not good enough to replace GS

[Ragdoll]

Hi!

I have a question to all of you experienced players :) What is your strategy/side stratedy against death and taxes? What to side in? Is Dread of Night worth card? Thx :)

[Whippoorwill]

I know why Silence is played over Orim's Chant, as the targeting of a player can be key, but I was wondering how relevant 1 extra mana is in all of this. Is it often very close mana-wise, or could a 2cc spell in place of Silence be feasible if the effect were similar?

It makes a huge difference when flipping cards over for Ad Nauseam. The extra mana for Abeyance isn't worth the cantrip.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

It makes a huge difference when flipping cards over for Ad Nauseam. The extra mana for Abeyance isn't worth the cantrip.

It also shuts down Crypt/DRS activation in case you need to keep your graveard safe because of RoF/IGG/PiF/CRit. But it still has no place in AdN.dec, not even in ANT that's much more reliable on gy. It was good in Cephalid Breakfast, where the additional mana hardly ever mattered, becasue Vial helped with mana fixing, but I doubt that before century's end you'll see a single copy of Abeyance in any Storm deck other than some obscure DD version.

[Lemnear]

Hi!

I have a question to all of you experienced players :) What is your strategy/side stratedy against death and taxes? What to side in? Is Dread of Night worth card? Thx :)

It's a basic hatebear deck for TES. Please take a look in the primer for SB-Strategies against those decks. DoN doesn't kill Gaddock Teeg or other creatures in the format aside Thalia, Cannonist, MoR and Lingering Souls tokens. :)

It makes a huge difference when flipping cards over for Ad Nauseam. The extra mana for Abeyance isn't worth the cantrip.

Minor add: it doesn't prevent Clique either

[Asthereal]

I dare to jump in here. GS saved my ass in many situations where I needed to clear the field or moved ToA to the MB in Exchange for EtW.

Same here. Last tourney I played a TES/ANT hybrid thingy with 3x Wish and I tried Pyroclasm over Grapeshot. Indeed I ended up never needing Pyro, but did get into the situation where Empty the Warrens just got my opponent to two life or so before my goblin tokens got killed, and I had a Wish but no Grapeshot to burn my opponent to death. This "burning the last couple of life points away" thing occurs MUCH more often then you realise.

[lemariont]

The xantid/tropical in sb seems a solid plan. But I have two questions....

-In the RUG matchup, we side a therapy for an infernal tutor. Which is the optimal card to sb for the tropical???

-And in the sneak and show match, what cards will go to sb for the 3 xantids 1 tropical for optimize the deck ???

[Lemnear]

The xantid/tropical in sb seems a solid plan. But I have two questions....

-In the RUG matchup, we side a therapy for an infernal tutor. Which is the optimal card to sb for the tropical???

-And in the sneak and show match, what cards will go to sb for the 3 xantids 1 tropical for optimize the deck ???

RUG: Either the 3rd Mox or a Ponder

Sneak & Show: -3 Duress, -1 EtW

[Bryant Cook]

Do you not bother to SB in Ill Gotten Gains and Tendrils of Agony for Ad Nauseam and Empty the Warrens vs Goblins etc. or is the EV of that not really a consideration anymore? Furthermore if you're not SBing in Tendrils of Agony vs anything but maybe Miracles is Grapeshot worth it over Pyroclasm or Deathmark anymore if it doesn't double as a SB replacement for MDed Tednrils of Agony?

Grapeshot isn't going anywhere, it's the sole reason I made top 8 two weeks ago at SCG:Philly. I don't sideboard Ill-Gotten Gains or Tendrils vs non-blue decks because TES is an Ad Nauseam deck and those cards are still 'Wish targets - they stay where they belong. the best possible engine for the deck is Ad Nauseam. Not Ill-Gotten Gains or a natural Tendrils, creating a win out of either one of these is more difficult than counting to five.

[davelin]

I wouldn't replace Grapeshot with it, but I like having Pyroclasm as a wishable sweeper especially game one. Because your opponent can see what you Wish for, I've been in several games where my opponent was reluctant to commit another thread to the board to avoid getting hit 2 or 3 for 1, and gave me a extra turn or two to setup for the eventual kill.

[Plague Sliver]

It was fun to play in a tournament last week where 1/6 of the field was Storm - talk about representing the Storm Trooper brigade...

Jammed a few games this week vs. ANT. I know it's been said before, but...my goodness are we positioned well against ANT. Silence is unbelievable in the matchup.

In one game I had to stop my Ad Nauseam at 1 life, he had Duress in hand, but I was still able to go off the following turn. Good times.

[Teluin]

Question:

Let's say I have 3 black mana floating and an LED in play. I have an Infernal Tutor and a Burning Wish in my hand. Can I cast Infernal Tutor, in response crack the LED and thus discard the Burning Wish before Infernal Tutor resolves, allowing me to IT any card I want? Or do I have to name a card AS I cast Tutor?